Global warming a threat to Texas water supply

DINA CAPPIELLO, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle |
March 27, 2007

AUSTIN — With a dozen bills addressing global warming before the Legislature, lawmakers on Monday had a chance to hear from experts about what a rise in the Earth's temperature means for Texas and what can be done about it.

The briefing represented a rare visit to the Texas Capitol for four of the state's foremost climate scientists who have spent more time speaking with legislators in other states and the U.S. Congress than lawmakers here.

The presentation shed some scientific light on the bills filed this session on climate change, an issue that until this year saw little legislative action in Texas.

The scientists said Texas has reached or exceeded its maximum annual average temperature and must adapt to changes that are inevitable but not predictable.

The scientists agreed that Texas should focus its efforts on water resources, since a warmer climate is expected to increase evaporation and decrease precipitation in the state. Recent data, however, show a 6 percent to 10 percent increase in rainfall.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, is seeking a study to analyze how climate change will affect the state's water supply.

"I'm not ready to say we are going to dry up and blow away in dust, but this is an area where water planners need to pay attention," said Gerald North, a distinguished professor in geosciences at Texas A&M University.

The hourlong discussion, organized by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, the sponsor of five of the climate bills, drew only about a dozen staffers.

Part of the reason was that the House was in session. But others said it showed a lack of will by lawmakers to tackle the issue, even though Texas emits more heat-trapping carbon dioxide than any other state.

The bills' sponsors have said much of the legislation has no chance of passing. Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have said they doubt that emissions from human activities are causing global warming, a link the four scientists Monday said was conclusive.

Katharine Hayhoe, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas Tech University compared the turnout Monday with a presentation she made to all 250 members of the New Hampshire Legislature in January.

"It was quite a dramatic contrast," Hayhoe said. "They didn't care about the science; they wanted to know what to do."